Durin Build Guide

Hexerei Teams

Varka

Varka - Durin - Prune or Venti - Nicole

• Faruzan or Sucrose are also competent Anemo support slots over Prune or Venti, but the latter are certainly the strongest. C6 Prune should be decently ahead of Venti, which is not true for non-C6 Prune.
  
• Bennett is a competent alternative over Nicole, albeit decently worse. Durin will have to hold Celestial Gift without Nicole in the team.

Durin is one of Varka’s best Supports and the only one able to Shred both Pyro and Anemo at full uptime with good potency. Nicole holding Celestial Gift makes Durin comfortably able to use A Day Carved in Rising Winds, and Prune / Venti generally holding Viridescent Venerer makes Durin an exceptional Sub-DPS.

Example Rotation:

1. Durin Skill + Skill + Burst
   →
2. Nicole Skill Revelation: Uncreated Light + Burst Revelation: Ladder of Divine Ascent
   →
3. Prune Skill Ring-A-Ding-Ding! Hexhunter Chime + Burst The Bell Tolls! The Hunt Is On!
   →
4. Varka on-field combo

Lohen

Lohen - Durin - Nicole - Citlali or Xilonen

• Emilie is another strong 4th slot for this team, although it shifts the team's damage share significantly more to Lohen.

The team that makes best use of Dark Mode Durin as an off-field Carry. Lohen provides ample Cryo for Durin to Melt on, and Durin receives significant buffs from the team through Nicole and Citlali.

Example Rotation

1. Nicole Skill + Burst
   →
2. Citlali Skill + Burst
   →
3. Durin Skill + Normal Attack + Burst
   →
4. Lohen on-field combo

Other Hexerei carries

Venti - Durin - Faruzan - Nicole

Durin is a core teammate for Venti carry teams. He is significantly stronger than any other slot, particularly with Nicole.

Klee - Durin - Fischl - Nicole or Chevreuse

Razor - Durin - Fischl - Nicole or Chevreuse

Durin functions on the same principle for both Klee and Durin. With Razor + Chevreuse, Durin will have to be the one to hold Celestial Gift; for Klee teams, Fischl should instead.

Non-Hexerei Teams

Kinich

Kinich - Durin - Nicole - Emilie ( or Iansan )

Durin is one of Kinich’s strongest teammates, particularly with Nicole. Durin can utilize Deepwood Memories quite well in this team if you have a good set for an ATK scaler. Iansan typically needs to be C6 to be better than Emilie, and even that tends to be a bit inconsistent.

Example Rotation

1. Nicole Skill + Burst
   →
2. Durin Skill + Skill + Burst
   →
3. Emilie Skill or Burst
   →
4. Kinich on-field combo

Mualani

Mualani - Durin - Mona or Sucrose- Xilonen

Celestial Gift is a must in a team like this making Mona or Sucrose very difficult to replace. Xilonen is the only strong Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City holder in this team in a similar vein, and will be preferred in Durin setups. Durin should likely hold Celestial Gift here, but Mona will do fine.

Example Rotation

1. Durin Skill + Skill + Burst
   →
2. Mona Skill Mirror Reflection of Doom + Burst Stellaris Phantasm + N2 or N3
   →
3. Xilonen Skill Yohual's Scratch + N2
   →
4. Mualani on-field combo

Other assorted teams

Chasca - Durin - Nicole - Iansan

Durin tends to be Chasca’s best teammate, thanks to enabling Celestial Gift and his RES Shred on Reactions. Overload Chasca tends to be her highest DPS team with the Durin + Nicole core

Example Rotation: Nicole Skill → Durin Skill + Skill + Burst → Iansan Skill + Attack + Burst → Chasca on-field combo

Navia - Durin - Nicole - Xilonen or Albedo

Durin is typically the best option for Navia's teams focused around talent damage, particularly alongside Nicole. Xilonen should be better than Albedo here, but he's not bad.

Example Rotation: Navia Burst → Nicole Skill + Burst → Durin Skill + Skill + Burst → Xilonen Skill + N2 → Navia combo

Durin is great for any other carry that can make use of the Hexerei core. Examples include Ganyu, Lyney, Xiao, Wanderer, and more

He is also able to slot in for either RES shred or damage for a few other teams while not being automatically the best option, such as for Flins or Neuvillette.

BiS Option: Athame Artis

Durin’s Signature Weapon comes with a relatively high Crit Rate secondary stat and a lot of stats for Durin. The passive is quite strong even when Durin is the only Hexerei character, but provides a massive 28% ATK if Hexerei: Secret Rite is active. In those teams, this weapon can be an up to 10% team DPS increase from Durin's other options, making it one of the strongest support weapons in the game.

Best 4 star options:

Wolf-Fang A great weapon if you can manage the Crit Rate, which can be difficult for Durin thanks to A Day Carved From Rising Winds and his Crit Rate ascension.

Moonweaver's Dawn R1 of this Weapon is free and obtainable from a World Quest, but the refines make it quite a bit stronger.

Both of the weapons above tend to be about as good as generic 5* stat sticks, which are themselves usable for Durin's personal damage.

Energy Options:

Favonius Sword Good if Durin is solo Pyro and needs the Energy, or if the rest of the team’s energy requirements are particularly steep.

Festering Desire: A usable option if Durin’s Energy requirements are high but not too high, this was only available from the first event to feature Durin, all the way back in 1.2.

Best accessible option: Lion's Roar

A surprisingly good option for Light mode Durin in teams that let him make use of the passive.

BiS Option 1:A Day Carved From Rising Winds

As Durin is primarily a Sub-DPS that deals solid damage and a Hexerei character, he can naturally make great use of this set. Celestial Gift tends to be better if there is no other user of it and Hexerei: Secret Rite is active.

BiS Option 2: Celestial Gift

One of the strongest sets in the game, although not uniquely good for Durin's personal damage. Use this in teams like Varka with Bennett or Lohen without Nicole.

Support set alterantive: Noblesse Oblige

This set is in the Strongbox, and Durin is very synergistic with it if Celestial Gift is taken and Durin's personal damage is de-emphasized.

Damage alternative: Emblem of Severed Fate

Much worse than A Day Carved From Rising Winds, but it will do if you don't have strong pieces of any of the above sets.

1. Elemental Burst
2. Elemental Skill
   >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
3. Normal Attack

All of Durin's damage is in his Elemental Burst, and said damage is most of Durin's value. His Elemental Skill is worth leveling for the extra Energy it will provide at higher talent levels. Normal Attack is worthless.

Overview

Durin is an off-field Sub-DPS and Support or off-field DPS depending on the mode he's in. He can switch between Light Mode, making him the former, and Dark Mode, making him the latter. This is done through his Elemental Skill. His Elemental Burst gains significantly different properties depending on the mode he's in, either letting the team Shred the opponents' RES on triggering certain reactions or making him a Vaporize and Melt carry.

Elemental Skill, Light and Dark Modes

Upon casting his Elemental Skill, Durin enters a special state where the player is given a choice: use his Elemental Skill again to enter ‘Confirmation of Purity’ (colloquially Light Mode) and turn his Elemental Burst hits into ‘White Flame’, or use his Normal Attack to switch to ‘Denial of Darkness’ (colloquially ‘Dark Mode ‘) and turn his Elemental Burst into ‘Dark Decay’. Durin is in Light mode by default. While in combat, regardless of which mode Durin chooses, he will be granted a massive amount of Energy that scales on the Talent Level of his Elemental Skill alongside generating 5 Pyro Energy particles. This significantly eases his Energy requirements, as his Burst costs 70 Energy on an 18 second cooldown.

Elemental Burst

After casting Durin’s Elemental Burst, it will last 20 seconds regardless of the mode he’s in and will apply Pyro on every other Burst hit, with those hits having significantly different properties. The form you choose from will depend on Durin’s role in the team – in Light mode, Durin’s Burst hits at a rate of approximately once a second, which is slightly faster than Dark mode’s interval of roughly 1.25 seconds. Light mode hits have a fairly wide AoE and deal less damage, whereas Dark mode hits are single-target and deal higher damage. However, the biggest difference between them is the additional effect provided through Durin’s Ascension 1 Passive.

Light Mode vs Dark Mode

While Durin’s Burst is active, if he is in Light mode, he will shred the RES of enemies when certain Pyro reactions are triggered, with the Elemental RES decreased corresponding to the Elements that participated in the reaction. This RES shred lasts for 6 seconds, so you will generally want semi-consistent Reactions to maintain uptime. This mode will want to team up with teammates corresponding to these reactions: Electro for Overload, Anemo for Swirl, Geo for Crystallize, and Dendro for Burning.

If Durin is in Dark mode, he will instead gain increased Reaction DMG Bonus for Vaporize and Melt that he is the trigger of – this is exclusively for his own personal damage and does not apply to his teammates. Durin in this mode becomes a dedicated single-target damage dealer, and his scope of teammates is narrower, as they must apply either Hydro or Cryo for Durin to react with; Lohen is overwhelmingly the best, but others like Neuvillette or Wriothesley will work fine enough.

These bonuses apply regardless of the team containing a second Hexerei character to activate Hexerei: Secret Rite for the party or not, but if Secret Rite is active, they are enhanced by 75%: Light mode’s RES decrease goes from 20% to 35%, and Dark mode’s Vaporize and Melt bonus from 40% to 70%.

Ascension 4 Passive Details

Durin’s Ascension 4 passive grants him additional ATK scaling on the first 10 hits of his Elemental Burst. This bonus is different to traditional Talent value, and makes ATK% more valuable on Durin than most Attack-scaling characters – it gains maximum potency at 2500 ATK, which is easy to reach with ATK buffing characters like Nicole or Chevreuse. Since this bonus only applies to the first 10 hits, lengthening rotations beyond Durin’s 18 second cooldown will result in him dealing a little bit less damage relatively, as he will be performing a larger share of non-buffed hits compared to buffed hits. Keep in mind that the animation of Durin’s Burst lasts nearly 2 seconds, and during this time Durin will not perform his periodical hits. In a given 18 second rotation, Durin will perform about 16 hits in Light mode and 12-13 hits in Dark mode.

Durin was officially released as a playable 5-star Pyro character in Genshin Impact on December 3, 2025, during the Version 6.2 update (also referred to as Version Luna III).